Teaching to Change the World By: Jeannie Oakes and Martin Lipton

This article is about:

• Ideologies
• Myths
• Culture
• Education
• Structure
• Inequality
• Morality
• Institution
• Inefficiency
• Opportunity
• Achievement
• Progress
• Competition
• Modernism

Oakes and Lipton made the argument has to do with dominant ideology. They talk a lot about the deeply rooted myths that are keeping those in power from truly understanding what people in public school need. As a democratic society we as students and teachers need to focus on changing the system and the institution to better suit different people. We cannot continue to be stuck in the boundaries that these myths of education have continued to surround us with. We also cannot put a band aid on a broken leg and think that certain resources will help everyone.

Evidence:

· “It has become clear that regardless of their merit, some people could never overcome the disadvantages from which they began”.

· “Even less attention is paid to the serious challenge to common schooling brought about by these events; namely, the increasing school opportunity gap for students that follows the increasing income gap of their parents”.

· “We must be sure the conditions exist so that everyone can participate fully”.

· “The postmodern world is abandoning the notion of progress through universals and predictability”.

This article was so long and had so much in it that I almost felt like I was reading Delpit again for the first time. It took me a little while to actually understand where the authors were going with the information that they were giving. I felt as though it was a combination of everything we have read so far (what a coincidence).

I thought some of the myths were extremely true of our society. One of them was the myth of merit. I think we have all been in situations where no matter how hard we worked someone with more connections or was wealthier seemed to steal our thunder. Wealthy white Americans can be extremely successful in their lives due to their race. Then they were talking about the war on poverty and tried to level the playing field of education for everyone. They gave people of color more resources but these barely scratched the surface. This makes me think that the people did not truly understand what the people in poverty truly needed. I can make the connection to the service of what where they talk about how people helping those in need really have to try and understand where they are coming from. They need to talk and reflect about what those people need. Most of the people in power have no idea what people unlike themselves really need they just assume or the people in power are not aware they have power. I also thought about Kozol and the vicious cycle of poverty. If our school systems put so much emphasis on the individual bringing success to themselves that we don’t see that the problems they face effect how they do things.

The authors also talked a lot about the institution and how they treat everything as if it was a factory. That everything needs to be efficient, quick, and the same standards are set for everything. I hate how our school system does this. Nothing is personal or interactive which makes it almost impossible to get anything out of it. How many times have we all learned things in a class that we completely forget later on. Block schedules give barely enough time to fully understand things because the curriculum is tries to jam pack so much into a small time frame. Students are also extremely over tested and judged by the grades that they get. I am one of many perfectly well rounded and intelligent individuals who did not do well on the SATS. This in turn limited my opportunities for schools that I could get into.

People who do well and the people in power do not want to change things because they are thriving on the system that is already set in place. This also means that they have no idea that they are part of the problem. It is the privileged that make the opportunity gap so big because they only let people like them come into power. The only reason they have power in the first place is because of their wealth and connections. As a privileged person I can begin to change things by understanding and listening to those who come from a different background than myself. Reading the last bits of the article I came up with one equation hope + action=change

• Service
• Charity
• Altruism
• Community
• Action
• Understanding
• Contribution
• Compassion
• Reflection
• Relationships
• Perspective
• Participation
• Predispositions
• Insight

Kahne and Westheimer had a very powerful argument that is somewhat difficult to put into my own words. They basically talk about charity versus change. Students need to go into service learning with open eyes and gain perspective about the negative social situations in their community. These projects should not promote pity but understanding.

Evidence:

· “It lay in the analytic and academic skills, the moral acuity, and the social sensitivity they would develop as they learned to assess critically and respond collectively to authentic problems”.

· “They call for a curriculum that emphasizes critical reflection about social policies and conditions, the acquisition of skills of political participation, and the formation of social bonds”.

· “The importance of a meaningful reflective component becomes clearer when one considers the kind of deliberation and student empowerment that such a curriculum can foster”.

This article presented a very clear argument about what the authors thought the purpose of service learning should be. Every time that I had a counterargument they seemed to know what I was thinking and answer my questions. They showed the pros and cons of service learning in the curriculum and I totally agree with what they had to say.

The words that were repeated constantly were charity and change. I think they were trying to talk about a gap between the people being helped, and the people helping them. In the article it says that in the curriculum “[the institution] stress the importance of civic duty and the need for responsive citizens”. This made me think of our class the other day when a lot of people felt bad for the kids in the school system with social problems. When the curriculum says it is our duty it makes it seem like a job instead of a way to become educated. The whole reason why service learning is linked to education is because the objective is to gain knowledge and make positive changes. There needs to be perspective and insight that go along with helping others and one of the only ways to do that is to interact as well as build relationships. In the classroom there needs to be reflection and critique to promote further inquiry.

It is the schools duty to teach students why things are the way that they are. The authors mention that President Bush promotes community service however, “he made no mention of changes that address the structural injustices that leave so many in need”. Students need to be able to understand the areas that they are working in and the problems that the people face. I like it when the authors say “citizenship in a democratic community requires more than kindness and decency; it requires engagement in complex social and institutional endeavors”. This is the only way that future generations can make changes in the institutions that they might become a part of. They will remember why the people of a certain area were in need and what they can do in order to fix it. This is just like what Laura Christensen did when she taught students about the secret education of the media. With this education she also gave students the opportunities to make changes.

With my own experiences in the service learning project in the discussions in class I can honestly say that I have acquired a “lens of justice”. I know what works in a classroom and what doesn’t. I also know that most of the kids that I help don’t need pity. They need someone to give them extra help as well as listen to them. Learning about the problems related to S.C.W.A.A.M.P has opened my eyes significantly and I can feel confident in speaking about the problems with our society. I only wish that I would have been able to talk about all of these things so much sooner. I think the earlier that children are taught about diversity the better off they will be.

Unlearning the Myths that Bind Us By: Linda Christensen

This article is about:

• Education
• Culture
• Racism
• Sexism
• Media
• Myths
• Stereotypes
• Reality
• Opportunity
• Change
• Perspective

The author’s argument in this piece has to do with the hidden messages that the media sends us at an early age. Within cartoons and movies the culture of power is very apparent. Although this may not be the intention of the creators Christensen says “our society’s culture industry colonizes [children’s] minds and teaches them how to act, live, and dream”

Evidence:

• “When women do appear, they look like Jessica Rabbit or playboy centerfolds”
• “People of color and poor people are either absent or servants to the rich, white, pretty people”
• Duck tails “all their adventures revolves around finding money”
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles “This cartoon teaches a false sense of violence to kids: fight and you don’t get hurt or solve problems through fists and swords instead of words”

Personally, I was very sad when I read this article. I grew up with Disney movies and absolutely adored the various stories and clever themes. I was even going to be Snow White for Halloween. Apparently I was not the only one that felt like this when reading the information. The students who were in the class analyzing the problems with the cartoons and movies felt the same way. Christensen says “Many students don’t want to believe that they have been manipulated by children’s media or advertising”. Being young women I always wish that my life was just like one of the princesses and that one day I will find my prince charming. It is so corny yet entirely true of just about anyone I know. This makes me even more upset because that means the author is right about the secret education. If there was a class about fairytales I would get an A+. Isn’t their anything in the world that pleases everyone? Obviously not, but sometimes I wish that we could all agree on something.

The thing that I liked best about this article was that the author actually did something about it. She also made students take action which such an important part of this harsh reality. There have been so many times where I feel like there is so much going wrong with the world and there isn’t one thing that I can do about it. Some of the essays and critiques of the problems with this silence education were published. All it takes is one person to read the article, change their perspective, and tell others of their knowledge.

One of the best quotes in the article states that students “…accept the inequalities in power and exploitative economic relationships. Their acceptance teaches me how deep the roots of these myths are planted and how much some students, in the absence of visions for a different and better world, need to believe in the fairy tale magic that will transform their lives” I know that the reason why I like all of these stories so much is because the characters have similarities to myself. If I was of a different status or race I might begin to question things much more as I got older. It would frustrate me because my reality might be very unlike the one in the movie or cartoon. I might always try and achieve what those characters have but reality would make it impossible.

This teacher makes it easy for everyone to tap the glass which can have lasting effects on how they view certain things. If they all bring these discussions home to their families and pass them on to future generations then things will begin to change in their favor. I also like how the author says that she wants the students to use the “lens of justice” meaning that with this knowledge they can look at everything with a new and improved perspective.

Gayness, multicultural Education, and Community By: Dennis Carlson

When Dennis Carlson wrote this article I think he really wanted to point out that there is a lack of education about homosexuality in public schools. In the beginning he essentially talks about S.C.W.A.A.M.P. and how people who do not fit into this category are viewed as deviant. He also says that we need to help white men become more acceptant of homosexuals because they are the ones that can relate to them the least, due to their white privilege. I can honestly say that the first place I ever learned about homosexuality was in the media and it was not a positive representation. From prior experiences along with reading this article, I am extremely aware of how society reacts to homosexuality and that is with fear and misunderstanding.

Homosexuality is virtually non existent in the school curriculum because the community makes sure of it. We have all been brought up in a society where anything outside the norm is wrong and weeded out. Carlson says “At the level of state educational policy, it is noteworthy that no state currently recognizes gays and lesbians as a legitimate minority or cultural groups to be considered in textbook adoption or to be included in multicultural education…” One of the only times that teachers talk about gays and lesbians is in relation to HIV and AIDS. Is that why most people become homophobic? Do people all grow up thinking that this gay minority only spreads sexually transmitted diseases? The answer to that is yes because no one knows any better or has been exposed to sources that tell them otherwise. There is also the factor of alienation that goes along with discrimination to consider. Young people grow up in a world that does not give them the opportunity to find their true identity if it is outside the cultural norm. They are forced to hide who they truly are so that they will not be socially isolated. Not to mention gay teachers have the added burden of supporting student differences without outing themselves. Within the school system teachers who are homosexuals are under major scrutiny because parents feel as if they are a threat to the students. Again, this links back to homosexuality and AIDS.

Personally I think the media has done a wonderful job with this societal dilemma. The only thing that I would change is how gays and lesbians are always stereotypical. The best example I can think of is the show Will and Grace. The gay males in this movie are wealthy as well as white. They always dress extremely well, live in meticulously clean apartments, and act in a feminine way. With lesbians I feel as if there are two extremes; butch and masculine or sexy and wild. What about people of different races who are gay? Where do they fit in? There needs to be something for people who do not know where they fit in and have no one to talk to about it. Carlson says the process “involves the constitution of a whole network of support services and organizations designated to help individuals come out in a supportive environment and participate in the gay community”. He also talks about how gay individuals need to be reminded that they are not “full of sin and sickness, that they are doomed to dress as transvestites, molest children, hate the opposite sex, or contract AIDS”. The community needs to be educated enough to make this possible. Introducing homosexuality in schools would take some time but evoke understanding. With that knowledge future generations can become more accepting and in turn would make more gay organizations possible. This reminds me of Delpit when she says that this is the way things are not the way she thinks they should be.

“But we have a responsibility as public educators in a democratic society to engage them in a dialogue in which all voices get heard or represented and in which gay students and teachers feel free to “come out” and find their own voices”. We all know what we can do to change the way things are when we become educators but we just need the courage and strength to do it.